During emergencies, first responders need to be able to communicate with each other—even across jurisdictions. After Hurricane Katrina, Congress passed a law to help first responders do just that. The law created working groups to improve regional collaboration. Each group has members from different levels of government, as well as from the private sector.

We found that these groups have generally worked well at the regional level—members shared information and assisted each other during emergencies. However, we recommended that FEMA encourage nationwide collaboration among the groups. Read report here.